The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1887-08-13
PROFIT IN sEE-kEEPlNG.
Preparations That should lie Made by Be-
glnners In the Business.

Preparations That should he Made by Be-
glnners In the Business.
That more persons fail to derive
either pleasure or profit from keeping
bees than from any other departments
of husbandry is by no means strange
The occupation has been rendered at
tractive by those who have spoken and
written upon it. All the ancient poets
from David to Virgil, and all the mod
ern poets from Wordsworth to Whit
tier, have sung the praises of the indus
trious little insect that gathers honey
from the flowers. Even the composers
of the most popular hymns have ems
ployed the "busy bee" to point a
moral. The profits of bee keeping
have been shown by exhibiting
the yearly balance-sheet of a
few very successful apialians, who
were chiefly engaged in selling patens
hives and imported queens. A census
was not taken of the failures in bee
keeping, SO that the general public
learned little about them. Keeping
bees was generally represented as q
very easy sort of employment, in which
there was little to do except to 'boss
the job" The bees we're presumed to
know their own business and to attend
to it at all reasonable times. {
There is no longer much profit in
keeping bees if the object be to obtain
money from the sale of honey. Sweets
of all kinds are very cheap, and honey
forms no exception to the general rule.
Still large proportion of farmers who
occupy improved places will find it to
their advantage to keep few colonies
of bees The honey they will collect
and store will help reduce the grocer's
bill, while it will be much more salts
factory for use on the table than the
sirups that are now sold. One should
not engage in Bookkeeping, however,
without suitable preparation. Some
standard work on Bookkeeping should
be obtained and carefully studied
before any hives or bees are obtained.
If practical, the prospective bee-keeper
should visit place where several colo
MES are kept by some person who has
been successful with them. Much in
formation can be thus obtained about
the proper location of hives; the
methods of handling bees; of keeping
them over the winter, and of feeding
them when there is scarcity of natural
food. Much can also be learned about
the value Of different locations for keep
ing bees and providing plants whose
flowers afford honey during different
months of the year.
If there are Eastwood and willow trees
on or near the farm when one intends
to keep bees they will be found OF great
value. II there are none it will be the
part of wisdom to plant them without
delay. They will serve other useful
purposes than producing honey for
bees to gather. The sides OF the road
near the farm and bare tracts of land
on any portion of it can be sown to
melliott or sweet clover to excellent
advantage. Alsi no or Swedish clover
is an excellent honey producing plant.
and one that is worthy of attention for
producing hay. White clover remains
in blossom longer than almost any
useful plant while it yields most
delicious honey of the most desirable
color. The beginners must learn that
bees DO not make honey, and that they
can only obtain it when honey-prOduc-
ing flowers abound. Pasturage is as
, necessary for bees as for farm ami
mails, and on its excellence and near.
ness to the hives will largely depend
success in keeping bees Chicago
Times.